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Minutemen Prepare to Lay Down the Law
Civilian border patrols rally troops in Arizona. And they're making their presence known.
By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. — They came by the hundreds Friday, men and women from across the nation, hearts brimming with righteous anger, determined to staunch the flow of illegal immigration.
Some wore pistols slung low on their hips. Others walked the dusty streets in leather cowboy hats, wearing buttons that read: "Undocumented Border Patrol Agent." There were pilots, window washers, private investigators and exterminators.
These are the new Minutemen. And for the next month, they will patrol 23 miles of desert here in southeast Arizona, the busiest corridor for illegal immigrants in the nation with about 500,000 arrests last year.
"We have an illegal invasion of our country going on now that is affecting our schools, our healthcare system and our society in general," said volunteer Joe McCutchen, 73, of Fort Smith, Ark. "No society can sustain this."
The Minutemen's presence here has set off protests from immigrant-rights groups and drew a handful of counter-demonstrators Friday. The Mexican government has increased its troop strength along the border, and President Vicente Fox has called on the American government to protect illegal immigrants coming across the desert.
President Bush outraged many of the volunteers here by calling them vigilantes. They responded by calling Bush the co-president of Mexico and a leader who has failed his responsibility to secure the country's borders.
At a rally Friday in an airy building not far from the infamous OK Corral, politicians and activists lambasted Bush and vowed not to be intimidated.
"Since when did actually enforcing the laws of the land become a radical idea?" asked Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). "If you don't know who is coming across your borders and for what purpose, then you cannot call yourself a nation."
The 200 or so volunteers roared their approval, a few shouting: "Tancredo for president!"
Conservative political pundit Bay Buchanan chipped in. "Mr. President, you have failed us, you have failed our children, you have failed those communities suffering from drugs coming across the border," she said. "Mr. President, you have failed America!"
Outside the hall, demonstrators pounded pots and pans with spoons, trying to drown out the rally. There were dancers in traditional Aztec dress carrying signs calling the Minutemen racists. Monitors in red and white shirts from the American Civil Liberties Union have organized themselves into groups that will follow the civilian patrols that officially begin Monday.
"We will stay about 50 to 100 yards behind them to deter the use of violence and document any illegal activity," said Ray Ybarra of the Arizona ACLU.
The number of Minutemen who assembled here Friday was not as great as had been expected. James Gilchrist, the Orange County activist who organized the event, had predicted at least 1,000 would show up.
"They will be coming throughout the month, and not all on the first day," he said.
Gilchrist emphasized to his troops that no one was authorized to touch or detain any illegal immigrant, but that they should report them to the Border Patrol — which has said it doesn't want the help. "The rules of engagement are that there is no engagement," Gilchrist said.
Gilchrist, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired accountant from Aliso Viejo, said that white supremacist groups such as the Aryan Nations, which urged people to volunteer for the Minutemen, were not welcome.
"I have found in the last three months that hate groups come in all colors," Gilchrist said, explaining he had been threatened by a Latino gang and various individuals. "I have had … probably 12 actual death threats."
Gilchrist said the fact that the U.S. government announced this week the addition of 500 border patrol agents here showed that his effort was already paying off.
"We know we are not a panacea, that we are not going to change this all in 30 days," he said. "But we have already accomplished our goal a hundred-fold in getting the media out here and getting the message out."
The number of media members here Friday to cover the volunteer border patrols nearly outnumbered the Minutemen. Reporters from around the world descended on Tombstone, population 4,800. Along with journalists came some filmmakers working on documentaries about the U.S.-Mexican border.
Chris Simcox, editor of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper and a key organizer of the event, warned participants that they would be under enormous scrutiny. "The media has created this frenzy and this monster," he said. "They are looking for Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster — the vigilante. But they aren't going to find it. The media will be watching everything we do. We are going to be held accountable to the letter of the law. You must abide by every law or you will not succeed."
The Minutemen don't fit neatly into any stereotype. Some wore fatigues and carried military-issue Meals Ready to Eat. Others resembled suburbanites out for a weekend adventure. A few toted handguns.
Buddy Watson, a former prison guard, carried a .40-caliber pistol. He said he had reread the Constitution before coming here from Bentonville, Ark., to make sure he didn't violate anybody's rights.
"We have been threatened, so I am carrying a gun," he said. "I have no intention of having to use it."
Gilchrist said the Minutemen had been threatened by MS-13, a Central American street gang.
Bill Davis, 66, who kills coyotes for a living, worried about the number of guns he saw.
"The ACLU is praying … that someone gets wacky out here," the Minuteman volunteer said. "They hope some loose cannon lets the air out of somebody. And I see people walking around here with guns strapped on when there is no need for it."
Davis expects to be leading an eight-person patrol in the desert in the days ahead, yet he has some trepidation.
He spends every day tracking animals in the barren landscape here. He routinely comes across illegal immigrants and calls in the Border Patrol.
"I go out every day of the year, but some of these guys are businessmen," he said. "They shouldn't be carrying a box of rocks, let alone a gun."
Ok I am all for protecting our borders but if you ask me this sounds more like the same means they used to keep us (black folk) on plantations. I dont like the fact that illegal aliens are coming arcross our borders daily and sucking up all of our resources but I dont think that
KKK mentality is going to keep them from crossing nor do I think it is safe for anyone.
If you give these fools(militia men) the ability to control who is allowed to come across the border what is going to stop them from shooting and killing someone they think should not be here?
I believe for way too long that these illegal mexican immigrants have had more than their fair share of the US and all that we have to offer. We have even given these people legal rights to education, healthcare, and nutrition services that were initially set up to help Americans despite the fact that they are breaking the law. Stop them from coming here but dont do it this way. It is going to cost the rest of us way too much.
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